Web3 Hong Kong Festival: BAI Engagements
Ambassador Alexandru Cujba, President of Blockchain Alliance International (BAI), and his colleagues had a productive week during the Web3 Hong Kong Festival, co-hosted by Wanxiang Blockchain Labs and HashKey Group and held from 12 to 15 April 2023 at the Hong Kong Convention and Exhibition Centre (HKCEC).
The four-day event, organized across five main stages and covering approximately 97,000 square feet, attracted more than 10,000 participants, 300 distinguished industry speakers, over 100 Web3 projects, as well as community and media partners from around the world. The Festival provided a platform for networking, knowledge-sharing, and in-depth discussions, with the overarching objective of bringing together leading innovators, top Web3 projects, and venture capital actors. Representatives of Hong Kong’s regulatory authorities also participated, offering insights into and interpretations of the latest digital asset regulations and policy developments.
During the Festival, Ambassador Cujba held several meetings with Dr. Max Li, Professor at Columbia University in New York and Founder and Chief Executive Officer of OORT, an AI-powered data cloud platform. The discussions explored prospects for collaboration among the private sector, academia, and international organizations in advancing blockchain technologies, Web3 applications, and cloud storage solutions. The BAI President also met with Dr. Erdal Arıkan, Professor at Bilkent University in Ankara, Türkiye, and the inventor of 5G polar codes. Their exchange focused on the role of general education in achieving sustainable development, as well as the importance of close cooperation among innovators, academic institutions, and investors in delivering breakthrough solutions in the information technology sector.
Potential future cooperation initiatives with private entities based in Hong Kong, as well as the tangible impacts enabled by emerging technologies, were discussed during meetings with Mr. Edmond Lau, Managing Director of Lingfeng Capital and member of the Hong Kong Business Angel Network; Mr. Paul Li, President of the Hong Kong FinTech Industry Association (HKFIA); and Ms. Emma Wang, IC External Expert at Ehong Capital Impact. In addition, discussions with representatives of BlockBeats – one of the most influential Chinese-language platforms covering blockchain news and industry developments – addressed the popularization of blockchain technologies and the dissemination of blockchain-related information to domestic investors, developers, and technology communities.
Discussions on the most effective approaches to developing new technology-enabled applications for the development sector, as well as the engagement of private investors in social impact projects, were held with Mr. Mike Robinson, Chairman of the OORT Foundation, a non-profit organization supporting next-generation infrastructure for the decentralized web, and Mr. James White, Co-Founder of B.B Labs, a company providing integrated crypto marketing services.